


DW Femslash Week Day #3- Laundromat/Modern AU (Vastra/Jenny)

by IspeakfortheQueen



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: DW Femslash Week, F/F, First Meeting, Laundromat AU, Laundry AU, Modern AU, mentions of gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-29
Updated: 2016-09-29
Packaged: 2018-08-18 11:48:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8161103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IspeakfortheQueen/pseuds/IspeakfortheQueen
Summary: "I’m in my underpants in a laundromat waiting for my clothes to get washed and your clothes are in the machine next to mine and I noticed that when you put your clothes in they were all covered in blood what the fuck" AU





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not great with AUs, I like settling into the canon world and exploring that. I searched high and low for an au that could work without being too out of character. This worked splendidly for a possible Modern AU first meeting, could even branch out into a larger Modern AU if I had the initiative. Final note, I'm from the United States and this is set in London, forgive me if some of the terms are off- it was a doozy remembering the pants and trousers thing.

  Jenny Flint watched the viscous blue soap sink into the woven fabric of her jeans and sighed before tossing her only pair into the washing machine. Bleary eyed she fished the plastic ziplock bag filled with coins from the bottom of her worn canvas tote and counted out her change. A man walking past the open laundromat door and whistled at her from the street.  
   
_You just need to look good for this interview, Jen! Get this job and you can get a second pair of trousers! Maybe more! Maybe slacks? Slacks are rather professional._ Jenny closed the door to the machine and looked past her disheveled reflection to the water that was rapidly filling the machine. A bead of sweat rolled down her temple. There was a small table fan the business owner had set in the corner, sharing an outlet with an analogue television that was tucked into an outlet in the wall, and it was doing nothing for the heat. A lock of greasy brown hair fell out of Jenny’s ponytail and stuck to her cheek.   _God I need to take a shower. Okay, get this job and I'll pay the bills, pay the rent, and the rent from the last two months, and then slacks. Could I just put on deodorant? Would that be alright?_ She was in the process of trying to smell her own armpits without being too noticeable when someone entered the laundromat and chose the machine beside her.

It was a tall woman, maybe a head taller than Jenny, in a dark hooded sweatshirt, hood up, with a scarf and over large sunglasses that covered most of her face. Her overstuffed duffel bag full of laundry dropped onto the dusty linoleum floor with a heavy thud. Jenny watched her bend down and unzip the bag that looked ready to burst. She noticed that the woman was wearing leather gloves and overall there was not an inch of skin showing on her. That’d be good and well if it were a colder day or the woman was wearing some lighter, looser fabric, but she wasn’t and the man on the news was in the middle of showing computer generated diagrams of how many “Hottest Day of the Year” records this particular morning alone had broken. The clothes were all dark, close fitting, and the sweatshirt made of thick knit material. Jenny took notice of her jeans which looked to be sturdy, tough work trousers. _What on Earth do I need slacks for, I’m going to be a house cleaner. Those are the sort of trousers I need._

It was just then that the woman turned her head towards her and stared at Jenny’s bare legs for a moment. She turned back and continued to tug the zipper on her duffel bag- there was a piece of cloth caught in it, and she soon became frustrated and simply ripped the bag open and the dirty clothes fell into a pile on the floor.

The smell of old laundry overrode the smell of soap and static that usually clung to laundromats. It was rank and iron and Jenny realized that a majority of the clothing in the pile was covered in dried brown blood stains. She glanced at the pile for a second, hoped the woman didn't see her staring, and shuffled toward the plastic benches next to the window. _Don’t want to know about that. That is none of my business. ___She chose not to sit down on the bench, considering she was in her pants. Who knew what germs were clinging to the seats.

The same man from earlier, now walking in the opposite direction on the sidewalk, whistled at her as he passed. 

Jenny stood there for a few moments, staring absently at the cracks in the paint on the walls above the row of driers, listening to the overhead sound of an ice cream advertisement on the television and the drone of the washers. She soon realized her bag was still underneath the machine she had been using so she ran back to retrieve it. The woman next door hadn't put in the clothes yet. She was struggling with her own change over at the soap vending machine. Jenny peeked a quick glance at the woman’s laundry pile again. _Yes, that is definitely blood._ She retreated back to the benches. _Poor thing probably got her first period and doesn’t want her mum to know. She doesn’t look that young though. Well who am I to judge, people think I’m sixteen when I’m really twenty two - don’t see how it can’t work the other way round. ___

The news program came back on. Police had been receiving anonymous tips and when they followed them up, they were lead to an alleyway where the bodies of several dead men and several alive men, though bound up, were located. All of the men found at the scene turned out to be convicted for numerous brutal crimes against women and children, some of which were listed. There was evidence to suggest that there were more men killed, but bodies were missing and the men who saw what killed them either could not explain what had- A mother with toddlers hanging off of her laundry cart stood up and changed the channel to a soap opera program. Jenny shuttered but mulled it over 

_Serves the men right if they did what they said they did_ , thinks Jenny. _Wonder what happened to the other bodies._ Her eyes shot to the woman who was now wadding her piles of bloody laundry into the machine, without even checking the stains or un-inside-outing some of the garments. _What on Earth?! She doesn't know what she's doing._

“Pardon me miss!” Jenny said, striding across the laundromat to where the woman stood, “But you’ll never get the stains out- especially since you have it set for a warm cycle. Cold water works best for blood.” 

The woman glared at her for moment through her sunglasses. All Jenny could make out were pale blue eyes and the reflection of the man who had whistled at her entering through the door behind her. Jenny swore she could hear the woman hiss. 

“I think I should know how to do my own laundry!” the woman exclaimed in a voice muffled by her scarf. She had a posh accent, with a slight roll to the “r” ’s. 

“Not if you don’t want your shirts stained forever you don’t! Here,” she held up a white shirt. Some of the stains were old- as if they had already been washed in the way the woman had been planning. “Look at that, there’s a rip on the arm! Were you plannin’ on using the dryer? It’ll get just shredded in there!”  

The woman grabbed the shirt and started to stuff her unwashed laundry back into the ripped duffel bag. All the while this exchange was happening, the cat caller was approaching closer to Jenny. 

“Oi! Sweet’eart! You lookin’ to get yer knickers dirty too?! I can get them dirty for you if you want!” 

Jenny was thinking of a proper comeback but before she could make any response the woman had stood up, squared her shoulders, walked directly into the leering man’s path and punched him square in the nose. He doubled over and held his hands to his face, blood mixing with the lint on the tiles and splattering more stains on to the woman’s boots. 

Jenny stared wide eyed at her harasser then turned to the woman, “Listen, if you have a sink or a place with running water I’d be more than happy to help you. I don’t got nowhere to be until two o’ clock but I should really leave at noon ‘cause sometimes the bus is late and-" 

While Jenny rambled the woman glanced to the man who was now swearing rather loudly and pointing an accusatory finger at her. The mother and the toddlers were staring. One of them was starting to cry. She sighed and slung her bag over your shoulder- “Get yourself covered and come with me.” 

As luck would have it Jenny's washer finished its cycle and Jenny was able to follow the mysterious woman with her bag of blood soaked clothes through a crowded street in damp jeans. 

\--- 

They went to a building around the corner which had four levels, a pub on the ground and three flats above it. The woman apparently lived on the third floor.

Being on the top level, the flat was incredibly hot and stuffy when they finally arrived. Still, all the windows were shut and all the blinds were drawn. 

“You may hang your jeans over the shower, they’ll dry quick enough,” said the woman in a huffy tone. Jenny could only guess that the woman was upset from the heat. 

“Mind if I open a window?” asked Jenny looking for the bathroom. 

“Yes,” said the woman firmly.  
   
“ ‘Yes, open the window’ or ‘yes, leave them closed’?” 

The apartment, especially the living area, was decorated like a furniture catalogue, the type of setting that no one real could possibly live in because it’s too tidy and everything matches. Clean old books were stacked beneath flower pots and dime a dozen posters of the Eiffel Tower with the word “Paris” printed in different fonts were framed on the wall. The grey couch looked like it hadn’t been touched since it was delivered and a spotless white fleece blanket was folded neatly over its back. The woman was suddenly looming next to Jenny, staring directly at her. 

“Keep the windows shut,” she said in a way that Jenny knew to take very seriously despite the heat. She still hadn’t taken off her hoodie or sunglasses or scarf, even though they were inside. She probably saw Jenny looking at her very worried because she said in a calmer voice, “The bathroom is just through that door. Let me know if you need anything.” Jenny nodded.  

The bathroom was the complete opposite of a furniture catalogue. This was a definitely lived in space. There were no posters of Paris on the wall here- in fact there weren't any pictures at all. There was dust on the floor, there was a worn green carpet in front of a bathtub, and slightly ripped white plastic shower curtains. There were rings in the toilet bowl and in the shelf above the toilet were a multitude of jars and bottles with terrifying looking labels featuring skulls and symbols that made Jenny think they had to have come out of a chemist’s lab. Above the sink was a smudged mirror and below it a metal mixing bowl to catch the water that was leaking from a crack in the pipes. _That’s more like it,_ thought Jenny as she shimmied out of her jeans and laid them over the bar above the shower. The outside of her underwear was damp now but she figured they’d dry by the time her trousers were. 

When she stepped outside the bathroom the woman was sitting at a rather messy kitchen counter with a laptop open to a live news stream. It was the report about the dead criminals. The woman was whispering urgently into a phone, “Yes I know, he was harmless, why do you think I let him go?“ Before Jenny could step further into the room, the woman turned quickly in her seat towards her and covered the receiver with her hand, covering the area of her face where the scarf no longer was in the process. 

“Yes?”  

“Laundry soap?”  

“Ah." She turned back into her phone, "Hold that thought, Doctor, I’ll get back to you in just a moment- Yes, I certainly agree but don’t you think- You foolish stubborn man you really are a coward. Now I must be go- No don’t worry it’s not related, I will get back to you in a moment.” When she switched off the phone, Jenny could see the woman’s chin and part of the her mouth. Jenny blinked. She thought she saw scales. _Must be a trick of the light. Well, if there was any light in here._ She averted her eyes quickly as the woman started to reach for the scarf on the table but chose against it.

“I'd continue with my disguise but it really is quite hot in here, even for me. I’m going to show you my face and you are going to decide whether or not you are still up to this task." 

“I don’t see why I shouldn’t help- Oh!” 

The woman took off her sunglasses and revealed a pair of piercing blue eyes. There was now a scaly reptilian face tucked into the hood of the coat peering out at Jenny. 

“Is that a mask-oh wow!” The woman had taken off the hood and revealed a series of crests that ran across the top and back of her head. Five perfect pointed crests that made Jenny think _Like a frilled lizard and those spots by her jaw are sort of like how lizards and frogs have and... and..._ “Oh my,” she whispered. Jenny stared at the lizard woman. The lizard woman stared at Jenny. Jenny suddenly realized that they had been staring for some time. With some strength she unglued her feet from the floor and pointed to the duffel bag by the door. 

“Alright, you got soap in there or do I gotta to use my own? I saw you get some at the laundry but I don't know if you put it in the machine already.” 

She realized the lizard woman had been trying to intimidate her when her body slumped in defeat. 

“Is there nothing startling to you about this situation?!”  

“All I know is that you’ve got an awful lot of clothes that you were about to ruin just ‘cause you got in some brawls." 

“Oh for heaven’s sake, it’s not my blood!” 

“So I’ll wear gloves and be extra careful when I wash ‘em, and you were about to put them in a washing machine that anyone could use. Don't you know people can catch diseases like that?! The loo’s a regular science lab, I bet you have some gloves.” 

“Were you not watching the news cast when we were back there? Did you not see what was on my computer screen?”  

Jenny shrugged. “Well the way I see it those men deserved it. If I had the ability to do what you probably did, I’d do the same. I ain’t got no water, no electricity, no heat, and my rent's overdue. I have one pair of trousers and a job interview at a temp agency in five hours. This morning alone involved me standing in public in my knickers, and this hasn’t even been my one of worst days. I’m having one hell of a year and if you think running into a lizard lady at the coin-op is going to stop me from helping someone with their laundry you are dead wrong!” 

The lizard woman blinked at her, taken slightly a back, and then sighed, “There’s still detergent left over in the bag. Don’t use up the hot water.” 

“Do you have gloves?” 

“There’s a box in the shelf over the toilet.”

Jenny smiled at the lizard woman.

"Good. Right then,” she grabbed bag and went back into the bathroom. The lizard lady followed. 


End file.
